Interview: C. Julian Jimenez of ¡OSO FABULOSO & THE BEAR BACKS! at Joe's Pub

Playwright, performer and professor C. Julian Jimenez was really busy at the start of June: they were preparing their college students for graduation. Now, they will be busy at the end of June because their wildly successful musical cabaret play ¡OSO FABULOSO & THE BEAR BACKS! will return to Joe's Pub for a performance the week before Gay Pride NYC. This out queer artist and mentor to other queer artists (and, especially, youth) is setting a tone for their life and their community by writing plays that represent their truth and that of their people, which might be why this particular show is always standing room only.

As C. Julian was starting the month and heading into graduation week, they took out some time to chat with Broadway World about changing times, being a leader, and what Pride looks like to them.

This interview has been edited for space and content.

C. Julian Jimenez, welcome to Broadway World! How are you?

I'm doing okay. I teach college, so I'm dealing with the end of the semester - graduation's on Friday, so, finishing up there.

You are busy, aren't you?

I am (Laughing) I don't know how!

So we are talking today on, coincidentally, the first day of Pride month in New York City about your show that's playing Joe's Pub on the 22nd. When you look at the Joe's Pub website, when you look at the press for the show, it starts out by saying that you are Queer, Puerto Rican, and Dominican. So how much pride do you have this month, and to be doing this show, what does it feel like?

Oh my god, it's so much Pride. (Laughing) Growing up on Long Island, as a Latine kid, to be able to bring that part of my identity to Joe's Pub's stage during Pride week is pretty incredible. I never dreamed that that could happen, in the early Nineties, when I came out at 16 years old. So, I'm feeling really, not only proud of myself but proud of my community and how far we've come, that a show like this could exist.

These are amazing times, aren't they?

Dark times, but also amazing times - progress never was made in easy times. So, even though it's difficult, progress is made during difficult times. I feel really hopeful for the future.

Yes, and you're right about the difficult times. There are times that I say to my husband, I can't believe the stuff that's happening, but I also can't believe the stuff that has happened. When we first started dating in the Eighties, I had no concept we would ever be married.

Absolutely. I say the same thing to my husband. It's like - I never thought in my lifetime that I would see marriage equality, let alone also be an out professor at a CUNY school, who uses he/they pronouns at administrative meetings and in the classroom. I feel really, really fortunate, and I also feel fortunate that I'm in a New York City bubble - a lot of places across the country don't have that luxury. So that is awesome.

When we first moved here in the early Nineties, we insisted on holding hands when walking around town because we wanted young children and teenagers to see that. And now when we see it in the street, I still stare because it makes me so happy.

Yeah, me too.

The fluidity and inclusivity of your production are one of the things I love about the Oso Fabuloso show. Was there a defining moment that sparked this show into creation?

Oh, absolutely. It's very autobiographical. I was in a really toxic relationship with somebody who was sort of really abusing the ideas of queerness and trying to lead a really heteronormative lifestyle, but also in a queer relationship and just couldn't come to terms with what he needed. It sparked something in me to realize that so many queer people, no matter how out we are, live with that generational trauma. And my ex experienced generational trauma and was sort of putting it on me. It's the old adage of he did me wrong and now I'm gonna write a thing about it. But the show is not necessarily about how someone wronged me, but how I understood generational trauma in a very different way, now, than I did when this happened to me, and coming to terms and trying to stop the cycle from me doing it, eventually, to other partners.

And it's a cycle that you did break.

Totally. Absolutely. I was able to find my tribe and my husband, so it's a relationship and an authenticity that I never thought I would be able to find until I was able to process, through this show. It was really cathartic and therapeutic.

So you took your therapy and you turned it into art and you shared it with the world and everyone is loving it.

Oh, thanks. I hope so. (Laughing)

You have a long CV, you have a lot of plays that you've written; this show is playing a nightclub. Is this your first time putting some of your theater in a food and drink venue? Have you done this work before?

Oso has actually been a very long process. I wrote it with the composer P.K. Variance. We wrote it about, seven, almost eight years ago now and we did it at a theater festival, and we took it to a food and drink venue in Portland, Oregon called the Funhouse Lounge. We did it for a very short period of time, in its infantile stage and it was really electric, but at the time I don't think it was ready. I don't think that the society was ready (Laughing), it's a very different time now, that I think that it's okay to see not only a Latine queer person express their desires and authenticity, but also, queer people of color that are also of size. There's something really radical about being an overweight guy, dancing around in a harness with plus-size bears as (Laughing) backup singers and GoGo boys.

You have so much diversity on display because everyone deserves their place. You are spreading so much good will with this show. What's the feedback that you're getting from your audience?

Oh, people are really connecting with the positivity of the show - surprisingly, as thinking of something dark and turning it into something fun and exciting, and the idea that you can take tragedy in your life and re-center it to make yourself your own rock star. That's the whole idea behind Oso. Oso is my alter ego because when I needed to be the rock star who didn't give a f*ck, I created this person to deal with it. And everyone could be their own rockstar, no matter what size you are, no matter what your ability is, if you're disabled, if you are whatever size, whatever color, whatever shape you are, whatever gender expression you choose, there is a place for everyone and everyone should be celebrated. That's the idea. There's something radical about seeing a bunch of fat guys on stage. (Laughing)

Not to everyone.

Yeah! It's interesting. We usually see people who are plus size as the butt of a joke, especially when it comes to sexuality, and what I hear from audiences is that they're like, "Man, this show is really sexy!" from people who never thought that there could be sexiness exuding from someone who is over a size 38 waist.

I think that's one of the good areas in which our society is changing. There's more body positivity and there's more love and good will for people of all demographics.

Definitely.

The show is outrageous. It's over the top and broad comedy and very bold. Is that a brand for you - if somebody hadn't seen any of your other plays, is that what they would expect to see?

Not all of my shows are comedic, but they will see something bold and over the top. I think that anything that I have written, in recent years, has a theatrical quality to it because I'm really committed to writing works for the stage. I'm not necessarily very interested in television or film - I wouldn't cross that off my list but there's something about the immediate response with an audience and a sort of feeling that the audience is trapped in a way. They can't just shut me off. It's much bolder for an audience member to get up and walk out of the show, as it is for them to shut off the television. So in a way, it's confrontational... I would say my work is usually confrontational, over the top, and I usually call it Fabulism, which is sort of an extension of magical realism.

Are you that outrageous in your personal life?

No, absolutely not. (Laughing heartily) I wouldn't say I'm that outrageous. I just really feel like I'm really authentic, and I do pride myself - I feel like sometimes people hear that as arrogance, so I'm like, "No, I'm authentic." What you see is what you get. But a lot of the outrageousness is left for the stage. Otherwise, I feel like I'm quite boring.

(Laughing)

My husband is far more outrageous than I am.

He's a superhero.

He really is, yeah.

What is the future moving forward after this wonderful Pride performance that you have coming up, will Oso Fabuloso tour? What would you like to do with this show?

It'll be touring that weekend. We're gonna bring it up to the Catskills, and we're presenting it at Cochecton Pumphouse up in Sullivan County, New York. From there we're not sure where it's gonna go. Hopefully, we would love to tour it more and would love to create maybe a residency. I would love to see it move on, also, beyond me as a performer; I would love to see it move on with different OSO's. How does a different actor take on this persona and live it? I would love to see that.

Have your students come to see the show?

A bunch of my students, the last time we performed it at Joe's pub, I was directing the show at the college I teach at, Queensborough Community College, and a bunch of the cast members (I wanna say about eight of them) came to see it and they absolutely loved it. I think it's really important for my students - cause I teach acting - for them to see me as a professional doing it, and going through what they go through as an actor, as well as seeing me as an authentic person. It's weird for them to see me prancing around the stage without a shirt on and singing about dick. But that's who I am (Laughing) and I don't hide that from them.

There's no point in hiding who you are.

No! Absolutely not! I did that for 16 years: when I was 16 years old and came out I was like "Not doing it ever again." That's my motto.

No good comes from it. Authenticity is key.

Yeah.

So, it's Pride month. You're performing Pride week.

Yeah.

What are you most proud of?

Oh, wow. What am I most proud of? Ooh, that's a big question; there's so much! I am most proud to be a teacher. I'm most proud to be an educator and to make sure that I represent for queer people the mentors that I never had, that I lost from the AIDS plague, and from Ronald Reagan's politics. Actually, my new play is called Ronald Reagan Murdered My Mentors and it's very much about how I grew up without an entire generation of mentors. It is my mission in life to be that for future queer kids.

Is there an ETA for when this play can be seen?

Well, there is a reading happening this weekend (Laughing), this Sunday in Portland, Oregon. Other than that, no, not right away, but I will say, just as a coda to what I was saying before about being a mentor to young queer kids: the two actors who play my backup singers are named Vasileos Leon and Joseph Distl. They're two former students of mine and they see me as a queer mentor to them. They actually call me dad sometimes (Laughing). I consider them my queer children, and that's why I cast them in the show because it was really important for me to have the show not only be a reflection of myself in authenticity but as an extension of my mentorship to the future generation. And I love them dearly.

I think that, as queer adults, it is our responsibility to have queer children and to be a parental figure to them.

I agree. That's why I put them in the show - I wanted them to experience this with me, and they're just fantastic. I couldn't ask for two better co-stars.

You're getting to act, you're getting to make art with your children.

Yes! It's pretty special. I feel really privileged to be able to say that and I can do that and I can give them these opportunities as well.

I would imagine that there are a lot of people that look towards you as somebody who has provided them opportunities, as students and as actors that have appeared in your plays - that must be a very rewarding part of your work.

This isn't the first time it's happened. This is one of the most special times it's happened, but I hope that that's how my students see me and I hope that I'm doing right by them.

C. Julian. I'm so happy that we got to talk about this today. I was looking forward to this interview so much.

Thanks so much.

Visit the C. Julian Jimenez website HERE.

¡Oso Fabuloso & The Bear Backs! plays Joe's Pub June 22nd at 9:30 pm. Information and reservations can be accessed HERE.

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